After an unexpected two-day layoff thanks to Sunday's rainout in Philadelphia and yesterday's off-day in D.C., the Nationals are back in action tonight, opening a 10-game homestand. First up: The Reds, the only NL opponent the Nats have yet to face this season.

Chien-Ming gets the start, hoping to build off his fantastic outing at Wrigley Field last week, in which he carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. It's probably too much to expect the right-hander to pull that off again, but the Nationals would love to see another solid outing from him.

Tonight, the Nationals will be honoring members of the military (especially those Navy SEALs who died in the recent helicopter attack) by wearing special caps during batting practice and their stars and stripes jerseys during the game. Should make for a nice scene.

Reposting this from someone else's comment in the previous thread. Vote for NatsInsider as Washington's best sports blog ("Latest and thoughtful info on the Nats, accompanied by (sometimes) intelligent comments")Well, sorry for the days I comment and drag down the site IQ! But seriously, go and vote!http://washington.blogger.cbslocal.com/most-valuable-blogger/vote/sports/

Any word on what the Nats are planning on doing with Chien-Ming Wang's contract? Seems like they wouldn't have invested all that money in his rehab if they weren't going to sign him once he's pitching again, but I also don't think you can sign him to more than a season (MAYBE two) without seeing how he does throughout the course of a full season.

Seeing "Game 120" in print is kind of making me sad. Where did the season go? Before you know it, we'll be doing our "best and worst" moments. There has already been lots of talk about 2012. Promise I will stop the pity party and move on — plenty of baseball left to go! GYFNG!!I would love to see the Nats put together a nice run in the next 6-7 weeks — starting right here with the Reds.

LOL, Beantown! I voted earlier but missed the parenthetical "sometimes" when I did. fwiw, I would think that you tend to fall in the intelligent comments category.("Latest and thoughtful info on the Nats, accompanied by (sometimes) intelligent comments")

natsfan1a said… "the site says that one vote per category is allowed per day."That's what it says, but it appears that there is one vote per *Web Browser* per category per day. Some people have Firefox plus Safari, or Chrome plus Internet Explorer, and I'm just sayin' . . .

Love Pudge, hope he is in the dugout tonight! Glad to see the Nationals are at least enticing strong draft picks to sign. The "proof will be in the pudding" or on the field, exciting times. Nice to have baseball tonight. Go Nats!

Uh, oh – let's hope that Wang can recover after the first like he did in his first two starts. Now – we absolutely , positively , need offense!!! Should Werth have had that one? Looked like it was not a sure thing.

Sign that guy to an extension RIGHT NOW! Oh, how sweet is it gonna be when we get the Prince of OppoBoppo hiting with Morse and Zimm. And imagine when Werth comes back around. Meanwhile, Wang keep the darn ball sunk. Nats, win this game!

I know some of us have been complaining that Ramos was standing too far from the plate. Just heard Rizzo say they moved him a couple of inches closer to the plate about a week ago. Does Nats management read this blog?

Yes, bigfish – because they know we all have too much time on our hands and we are total experts on all aspects of the game. Noooooo – just kidding. But, then again, maybe they do listen – Matt Stairs is retired, isn't he?

Having Wang pitch into the seventh is a bonehead move if you want to win games. It makes a bit more sense if you want to see what Wang can do. Is the guy a #2 pitcher, like he used to be? A #3? A #4-5? Not worth the money? You have to answer the question now, because you have to decide how much money (if any) you want to offer him at the end of the season.More data on this question is worth the risk, especially if you are three runs ahead, as the Nats were at the beginning of the seventh.

Nice win, boys!P.S. In Hagerstown tonight, Robbie Ray was pulled after three innings, with a 7-0 lead.The box says the weather was clear, so I don't think it was a rain delay. Hope he's OK.Mark: Might it be that the kid has an innings limit?

Just got in from the game, and I'm not sure whether the homers or Drew's 9th were the highlight of the game. Filthy, filthy stuff from Drew indeed and our 3-4 hitters are the real deal. I love winning! GYFNG!!!

Dryw – I know exactly what you are talking about. Zim seems happy just to have his body back, Morse is just happy to be playing every day, Danny would play all day every day if you let him. It really is great to watch – I love the passion.

At MLB.com Bryan Horowitz has a really nice feature on Harrisburg's Erik Arnesen, the Eastern League pitcher of the week. This section plays into what Rizzo's been saying. The Nats don't just sign talented players. They develop players. Huzzahs to Randy Tomlin and Spin Williams."Arnesen is 8-3 for Harrisburg, ranks third in the Eastern League with a 2.36 ERA and is second with a 1.07 WHIP. After adding a split-finger fastball to a repertoire that includes a low-90s fastball, Arnesen has compiled a 115-24 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 124 1/3 innings between Harrisburg and Syracuse. In the Eastern League All-Star Game, he struck out all three batters he faced."Arnesen and Shairon Martis (3.03 ERA, 126 Ks, 36 walks at AA) might rank 15th and 16th among the Nats' quality pitching prospects.That is some impressive depth!

Boy, I don't know what you do about this one. Bottom of the 10th, guy drags a bunt, gets tagged but the ump doesn't see it because his view is blocked, and calls him safe. Indians got robbed. Hope they don't lose on that play.

I see it's been a while since anyone has added a comment to this post, which no doubt means the blogosphere had moved on, so maybe it's a good place to vent. Here goes: Is it possible that somewhere in MLB there's a pre- and post-game show worse than what MASN offers? The guys doing the show (names withheld because they seem to be good guys and gals and this is not a personal attack) ramble on many times incoherently and, re the anchor guy, cluelessly. The latest very typical example: Last the anchor guy, while trying in his usual amazingly uninformed way to toe the company line and praise the Nats draft picks, says Rendon is a great hitter (true) and that his 2011 year was even better than his spectacular 2010 (NOT!). (Rendon had a shoulder problem — and had injured his ankle during the previous summer — and he had to DH in 2011 and his BA and homers were down (colleges changed bats, too), altough still good. (2) And the color rarely analyzes anything, he just offers "atta boy" stuff. His stumbling review of the game's highlights is painful to experience. (3) The gal who does the player interviews almost always merely asks how the players "feel" about something, for example, a good play or winning a game, or what a win makes a player feel. (4) And I don't understand why MASB didn't pick up Bob Carpenter's option for 2012. I've listened to a lot of baseball commentary and Bob's is one of the best, IMO. Okay, F.P. Santanglo was a great hire and he and Bob work well together. So now, along with skipping the pre-game show and fast-forewarding through the post-game show (except the manager's press conference), I now have to worry about Bob for 2012. Oy.

Nice rant. Though I have to warn you, you might need to sound a little more crazed to really qualify as a "Ranter."I don't care for the pre- or post-game shows either … but then, I usually don't care for ANY pre- or post-game show, so I wasn't gonna watch anyway.I also skip the manager's press conference, but that's a personal choice.